I remember an interview with George Perez from Comics Interview where he talked about the Vinnie controversy.

The interviewer asked him: "What about Vinnie Colletta's inking?"

And George goes:

"Unfortunately, with the credit that at least he does it fast, Vinnie has a tendency of homogenizing work and everyone looks the same - no matter who draws it, it looks like Vince Colletta. At the time, I was just so happy doing the Avengers that I didn't mind it. My art started improving on the Avengers, - I started to learn how to draw, I became more conscious of what my style was at the time and I really wanted it to be more intact."

Ouch, but Perez was kind.

"Vince Colletta is a great equalizer; if you're a bad artist he'll bring you up to his level, but if you're a better artist he'll bring you down to his level, which makes him very valuable to an industry that needs the work produced (...) He's valuable in his own right, but not valuable to me. And he wouldn't be the only one."

Perez benefitted from Colletta's inking, that much is obvious, but then many pencilers get big heads once fame comes their way - George had less than kind things to say about lots of inkers. Regarding the Vince Colletta and Jim Shooter photograph, there are probably fewer than five photos of Vinnie in existence which is amazing, especially since he spent so many years as a photographer. Kudos for finding that one! As an inker, his artistic range was from "better than anyone else by a mile" to "workmanlike" depending on time constraints and how interested he was in the material, I guess. No other inker could have done the cover of Thor 126, for example - Kirby had to have been delighted being inked like that.

I was always a fan of Colletta's art work. There are many stories of how gregarious he was but he certainly doesn't look happy in that photo. Was it taken before or after Shooter imploded as editor in chief?

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